Relics

Situational Items

Additional Items

King Arthur's Skill Order

Overhead Slash / Hamstring

1X

146710

Battle Stomp / Uppercut

2A

28111214

Twin Cleave / Bladestorm

3B

315161819

Sundering Strike / Excalibur's Wrath

4Y

59131720

My Introduction

Greetings one and all, Stuke here with a new guide. In this very special guide, we look at a god whose legend is known far and wide across all the world. A Knight, a Leader, a Hero, but out of all his titles he's King. Ladies and gentlemen, he needs no introduction so here he is. Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot.Note: you don't have to follow this guide to the smallest detail, these are suggestions on how to play King Arthur. I encourage you to look at the comment section below and see other suggestions.

Who is King Arthur?

King Arthur is a Physical, Melee, Warrior who is best at comboing his abilities together to consistently apply pressure and control to a fight. When I mean combo, I mean it, his play style is built around his two sets of abilities he can chain together like an action game character. Always staying in the fight and building up energy to unleash on any opponent that dare stand in his way.

Pros / Cons

Pros

High Damage

High Crowd Control

High Combo Potential

Cons

No Sustain

Steep Learning Curve

No Attack Speed Benefits

Abilities

This is the bread to Arthur's butter. Landing damaging abilities on an enemy god will give you stacks of damage mitigation and build up something called "energy", which goes towards your ultimates. That's not all, after using an ability Arthur swaps a stance (Standard and Combo) which is more like Cu Chulainn than a regular stance swapper like Tyr as Arthur's stances are activated due to certain circumstances.

After a very quick wind-up, Arthur slams down Excalibur and creates a line projectile that goes through all targets, but here's the kicker, if an enemy god is within melee range, they take additional damage. Best suited as your lane clear or when you just want to hit the enemy from afar.

Instead of a projectile, this ability is a 180-degree cone that will cripple all enemy gods caught in the range of this ability. Use this to make it harder for the enemy to get away or to set up for your other abilities.

Stomping your foot on the ground and creating a small AoE around you that deals damage, any enemy god caught within the range are slowed. Like Hamstring, this is used to set up combos with a soft CC unlike its Combo counterpart.

Charging forward and stopping at the first enemy god hit, Arthur knocks them up into the air. Just when you think Arthur doesn't have enough CC in his kit.

Become a Beyblade and rip enemy protections with this ability, it can hit two times but cannot change its direction once set and it short so watch what you're doing when using it.

Become a bigger Beyblade and hit every enemy five times with the final hit dealing additional damage.

Lunging forward a wee bit and launching a small projectile, Arthur will stun all enemies who are within the projectiles path. Good for when you don't have enough for his other ultimate but it's best to save for it as it's something else.

Quickly dashing into the first enemy god he connects with, Arthur throws them into the air and dose his best Ne Zha ultimate impression, striking the enemy multiple times, and then sending them back down with a small damage radius upon impact. This is the ultimate you want to save energy for but the first one is also a good choice when caught in a bind.

How to Build King Arthur

Arthur relies heavily on being in the middle of the fight, hitting his combos, and building up energy for his Ultimates. So with this ideal play style in mind, going towards an ability focused bruiser build will be your best option as it will provide the protections needed to stay in the fight and CDR to keep applying the damage from comboing abilities together. You can opt for more damage at the cost of some protections but that's all up to you and your play style.

Combos

While I would normally leave the combos in the Tips and Tricks section, I got to make an exception for Arthur as combos play such a big part in his kit. The first three examples were given by Hi-Rez while the last one is of my own creation. Here's a list of examples you can use:Note: These combos are not set in stone and if you can come up with a better combination then go for it.

With Me

Through the Fire

Fight the Knight

Knight of the Wind
(Personal Favorite)/

Tips and Tricks

Like an Action Game
As said by the Devs, Arthur's plays more like a fighting game character (Smash Bros, Soul Caliber, etc.) with how each attack can be comboed into each other and even his basic is a small lunge attack, and with that you need to think like a fighting game player. Combo the right abilities together for the maximum amount of damage in a fast and flowing way. While you can make up your own combos, breaking it can leave you very vulnerable and unable to attack or build up your passive.

Watch What You Build
Consider what items or relics you buy as some of their effects won't work for him because of how Hi-Rez balanced Arthur.
DukeSloth made a video explaining which items and relics will and won't work on him:

Beware of CC
While other gods don't like CC because it can get them killed, in Arthur's case it can ruin his combos as a few of his abilities have wind-up time or hits multiple times which will be put on cool down when disrupted. Either use abilities that doesn't have a large wind up or try to get the enemy to use their CC then hit them with everything you got.

Stages of the Game

Early Game

Arthur's over reliance on his combos will not help him in in the beginning of the game. Avoid fights and be careful of ganks until you get at least one point in all your abilities.

Middle Game

At this point your kit is online and you're ready to fight. Do what you've been doing while in lane and when the first tower falls you're free to roam and help out the rest of the team.

Late Game

You hit hard, you take hard hits, and you become a huge threat to the enemy team. Be the front line to all team fights and disrupt anything the enemy tries to do.

Summary

In conclusion, Arthur is a warrior king who brings a new style of boxing, special basic attack, ability spamming, and formless combo progression to the roster. Leading the charge in any engagement and making an impression to the enemy, an Arthur player can strike fear if mastered. Always remember to chain your abilities to maximize damage output or control the fight, and remind them why they call him King.

Do you think Hide of the Urchin Evolved would be a good replacement for mantle of discord or a good option at all?
And also could Bulwark of Hope be a replacement for Pestilence if there is no healers or self healing gods on the enemy team?

I'd think you might want to at least give an option for more protection shred... Void Shield seems like a good optional item.

Also unsure of Blackthorn Hammer, but in some ways that item seems better suited to him than others. He definitely wants the health so he can stay in fights, and he doesn't necessarily need max CDR due to his comboing ability and the fact all of his abilities can damage (gods). Situational CDR that Blackthorn provides seems okay. But curious as to your explanation why you have it here.

UPDATE: While I did promise to have an illustration done in the upcoming week, I need more time with it but that doesn't mean I don't have something to show. I got the sketching done but I need more time to layout the final lines and get it colored. Thoughts?

SmiteFire & Smite

Smite is an online battleground between mythical gods. Players choose from a selection of gods, join session-based arena combat and use custom powers and team tactics against other players and minions. Smite is inspired by Defense of the Ancients (DotA) but instead of being above the action, the third-person camera brings you right into the combat. And, instead of clicking a map, you use WASD to move, dodge, and fight your way through the detailed graphics of SMITE's battlegrounds.